Acts 12:1-7
Herod Agrippa I was the grandson of Herod the Great and was a strict observer of the law. This made him extremely popular with the Jews, and to maintain this popularity, he turned his hand against the early church to kill some of the apostles. Having killed James with the sword (Acts 12:2) he turned his attention to Peter. He captured him and imprisoned him, intending to kill him publicly following the Easter holiday.
Peter was held in prison under the watch of four quaternions of soldiers. This was a rotation of 16 soldiers, four at a time working 3-hour shifts. This was done to keep the soldiers fresh and alert. What a threat this fisherman from Galilee must have been! On the night before Herod was to have him executed, we find Peter sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains with soldiers standing outside of the door of the prison house (Acts 12:6).
There must have been some kind of confidence in Peter’s heart that would allow him to sleep in such a moment of crisis. I don’t think that I would have been as calm as Peter was, knowing that the next day might be my last on the earth, yet we find him snoring the night away. The secret to his calm was not in any supernatural talent on his part, but in his understanding of His Savior’s words to him.
Peter was in the boat the night that a storm raged and all of the disciples became afraid for their lives (Matthew 8:23-27). He remembered seeing Jesus asleep, so peaceful while the ship rocked to and fro. He recalled that moment when he woke Jesus from his rest and asked if the Master cared that they perished. He saw the sky break and the waves cease to roar as Jesus commanded the storm to flee. What wonder must have risen in his heart as he realized the key to surviving the storms of life was to learn to rest in the midst of them.
He also remembered one of the last things that Jesus had said to him while He was still on the earth. Following the embarrassing incident of denying Christ, Peter had decided to leave the ministry and go back to professional fishing, only to meet Jesus on the shoreline one morning. The Master never mentioned Peter’s failure; but rather invited him to breakfast and then commissioned him to preach the gospel again (John 21:12-17). Following that commission, Jesus prophesied of Peter’s life and death, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, When you were young, you girded yourself, and walked wherever you would: but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you, and carry you where you would not” (John 21:18). This told Peter that he would live to be an old man and then die a martyr’s death. The incidents of Acts 12 take place less than 10 years after Jesus made that statement, and Peter is far from being an old man. He has learned to trust the statements of Jesus, and if the Master said that he will live to be old, then this incident with Herod cannot be the end. With that information, he sleeps the sleep of the redeemed.
Take your rest in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). Do you believe those words? If you do, then you have nothing to fear; God is not leaving you, so rest in His goodness and sleep the sleep of the redeemed.
Herod Agrippa I was the grandson of Herod the Great and was a strict observer of the law. This made him extremely popular with the Jews, and to maintain this popularity, he turned his hand against the early church to kill some of the apostles. Having killed James with the sword (Acts 12:2) he turned his attention to Peter. He captured him and imprisoned him, intending to kill him publicly following the Easter holiday.
Peter was held in prison under the watch of four quaternions of soldiers. This was a rotation of 16 soldiers, four at a time working 3-hour shifts. This was done to keep the soldiers fresh and alert. What a threat this fisherman from Galilee must have been! On the night before Herod was to have him executed, we find Peter sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains with soldiers standing outside of the door of the prison house (Acts 12:6).
There must have been some kind of confidence in Peter’s heart that would allow him to sleep in such a moment of crisis. I don’t think that I would have been as calm as Peter was, knowing that the next day might be my last on the earth, yet we find him snoring the night away. The secret to his calm was not in any supernatural talent on his part, but in his understanding of His Savior’s words to him.
Peter was in the boat the night that a storm raged and all of the disciples became afraid for their lives (Matthew 8:23-27). He remembered seeing Jesus asleep, so peaceful while the ship rocked to and fro. He recalled that moment when he woke Jesus from his rest and asked if the Master cared that they perished. He saw the sky break and the waves cease to roar as Jesus commanded the storm to flee. What wonder must have risen in his heart as he realized the key to surviving the storms of life was to learn to rest in the midst of them.
He also remembered one of the last things that Jesus had said to him while He was still on the earth. Following the embarrassing incident of denying Christ, Peter had decided to leave the ministry and go back to professional fishing, only to meet Jesus on the shoreline one morning. The Master never mentioned Peter’s failure; but rather invited him to breakfast and then commissioned him to preach the gospel again (John 21:12-17). Following that commission, Jesus prophesied of Peter’s life and death, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, When you were young, you girded yourself, and walked wherever you would: but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you, and carry you where you would not” (John 21:18). This told Peter that he would live to be an old man and then die a martyr’s death. The incidents of Acts 12 take place less than 10 years after Jesus made that statement, and Peter is far from being an old man. He has learned to trust the statements of Jesus, and if the Master said that he will live to be old, then this incident with Herod cannot be the end. With that information, he sleeps the sleep of the redeemed.
Take your rest in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). Do you believe those words? If you do, then you have nothing to fear; God is not leaving you, so rest in His goodness and sleep the sleep of the redeemed.
